By: SubContractors USA
TXTA & FHA
The American Transportation Research Institute released its 13th annual list highlighting the most congested bottlenecks for trucks in America, and 13 Texas locations made the top 100, including nine in the Houston metropolitan area.
“Texans are no strangers to traffic congestion,” said Texas Trucking Association President and CEO John D. Esparza. Unfortunately, all that congestion means that our state’s economy takes a hit as does our roadway safety and our environment. Trucks are the primary mover of goods in this state and when trucks are stuck in congestion, all consumers pay the price. Using ATRI’s annual analysis to see where these chokepoints are most impactful allows the state to target investment for the greatest return on the dollar.”
Bottlenecks on highways that serve high volumes of trucks are “freight bottlenecks.” They are found on highways serving major international gateways such as the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA; at major domestic freight hubs such as Chicago; and in major urban areas where transcontinental freight lanes intersect congested urban freight routes, per the Federal Highway Administration.
The 2024 Top Truck Bottleneck List measures the level of truck-involved congestion at over 325 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on an extensive database of freight truck GPS data, uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. ATRI’s truck GPS data is also used to support numerous federal and state freight mobility initiatives. The bottleneck locations detailed in this latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, although ATRI continuously monitors more than 325 freight-critical locations.
The 13 Texas bottlenecks are:
• No. 4 Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59
• No. 8 Houston: I-10 at I-45
• No. 15 Dallas: I-45 at I-30
• No. 22 Houston: I-45 at I-610 (North)
• No. 26 Houston: I-10 at I-610 (West)
• No. 46 Houston: I-610 at US 290
• No. 54 Austin: I-35
• No. 57 Houston: I-10 at I-610 (East)
• No. 62 Dallas: US 75 at I-635
• No. 68 Ft. Worth: I-35W at I-30
• No. 83 Houston: I-10 at I-69/US 59
• No. 88 Houston: I-610 at I-69/US 59 (West)
• No. 93 Houston: I-45 at Sam Houston Tollway (North)
“Traffic congestion on our National Highway System inflicts an enormous cost on the supply chain and environment, adding $95 billion to the cost of freight transportation and generating 69 million metric tons of excess carbon emissions every year,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “The freight bottlenecks identified in this report provide an actionable blueprint for state and federal transportation officials on where to invest infrastructure funding most cost-effectively. Increasing freight efficiency should be a top priority for the U.S. DOT, and alleviating these bottlenecks would improve highway safety, protect the environment, and support interstate commerce.”
